


onyx

by simplecaelum



Series: heterochromia [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Gay Shiro (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Langst, M/M, Originally Posted Elsewhere, Romantic Soulmates, Some Spanish, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, mentions of drinking, not a lot, shance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-07-11 16:44:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15976355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplecaelum/pseuds/simplecaelum
Summary: When Lance was a born, his family had fawned over his bright blue eyes.When Lance had turned sixteen, and one of his eyes had faded into a dark grey, almost black, they had been thrilled.When Marco had said anything could happen, Lance hadn’t expected to wake up a month later with two blue eyes and no memory of the night before.





	onyx

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on my Instagram: @simplecaelum

When Lance was a born, his family had fawned over his bright blue eyes. When Lance had turned sixteen, and one of his eyes had faded into a dark grey, almost black, they had been thrilled.

"Not everyone has a soulmate, mijo," his mom had told him before dinner. "You're special. Tú otra mitad is out there. Tú alma."

"Mi alma..." Lance repeated back, fascinated by the words as they rolled off his tongue. A small smile graced his lips as he resumed setting the table.

He vaguely remembered the day his brother Marco had woken up with his left eye a dark green. Lance had only been six at the time, but thought his brother was playing a trick on him. His father brought it up sometimes at family events, and it only became funnier after Lance’s eye had changed color, too.

Marco had been brushing his teeth when the change happened, and he had rushed downstairs yelling about soja - soy - or at least, that's what Lance heard from around the toothbrush.

Then he saw his brothers eyes and realized he was saying ojos. His father had come in soon after, and congratulated Marco on getting un alma, and Lance being the youngest and most spoiled, demanded he get whatever Marco had gotten as well.

His mother had told him that alma was an important title, reserved for the person who would give Marco his eye color back. Misunderstanding, Lance thought one of his brother’s eyes had been stolen from him.

"Mama, why would they take it? How long will he have to wait to get it back?

"No, mijo," his mother cooed. "It is so you can have part of each other until your souls reunite. As soon as you meet tú alma, your eyes will correct themselves. It may take a while though, so you’ll have to be patient if you eye does change."

Lance had spent the rest of the day wondering if he would get a soulmate, what they might be like, and if they would ever get a chance to meet.

Staring at himself in the mirror became a regular habit after his birthday. Often times his sister would yell from downstairs that they were going to be late for school before he was able to tear himself away from looking at the jet black that occupied the space where blue used to be.

High school graduation came and went, and Lance still hadn’t met the one. He set his sights on Galaxy Garrison University, and the acceptance letter he got filled him with hope of new beginnings. He hated leaving his family behind, but they understood.

Two years in and about to start his junior year, he called Marco. No one else in his family really understood what it was like to know your soulmate was out there, waiting.

“I hate feeling this way. Something’s missing, like I’m trying to reach out and pull them closer, but I have no idea what who it is.

“Lance, relax. I didn’t meet Ellie until I started my internship my senior year,” Marco had reassured. “Anything could happen, just give it time.”

When Marco had said anything could happen, Lance hadn’t expected to wake up a month later with two blue eyes and no memory of the night before.

...

“Pidge, knock it off,” he mumbled, turning over on the couch and moving the pillow over his head.

“If you wanted peace and quiet maybe you should go back to your own room,” she retorted, continuing to tinker with… Lance honestly wasn’t sure what she was doing, or was ever doing.

Groaning, he threw the pillow at her before pulling himself off the couch and stumbling slightly as he moved towards the bathroom.

“Wait, Lance-” Pidge called from her place on the floor, but it was too late.

Lance glanced over himself in the mirror, seeing the damage from last night: a few hickies on his neck and-

Two blue eyes.

He gaped at his reflection, trying to think back to last night. Had he met his soulmate?

His gaze flickered down to the bruises on his neck. Were they from…

A dark blush settled over his cheeks. He had made out with people and gotten hickies before, but this… this was different. They had been possibly been made by his soulmate.

Looking at his reflection again, he started to panic. If he had met his soulmate and didn’t remember, how were they ever going to find each other again?

Pidge was in the doorway, watching him closely. “Lance… it’s okay.”

He turned to her, and motioned to his eye. “How is this okay, Pidge? I met my soulmate and I was so wasted I don’t even remember.”

Hunk suddenly appeared behind Pidge, holding a notepad.

“Well, when you came home last night slurring about some ‘built drink of water’ - which, by the way, is not the expression - and both of your eyes blue, we made a plan,” Hunk explained. “You were kinda blackout drunk. We’re not really sure how you even made it back here, but we knew you might not remember what happened last night.”

Lance could only nod, his hangover making it difficult to process all the information.

“You said you had gone to a frat party last night, so that's a start. I looked through your phone while you were passed out,” she admitted as she pulled it out and started to scroll through it, ”and it looks like you mainly stayed around Victory Lane, which is extremely helpful since most of the frats had parties last night.”

“This is no time to be a sarcastic little shit, Katie. This is serious!” He knew using her first name would piss her off, but she shouldn’t have taken his phone.

She stopped and pointed his phone at him, which he quickly swiped and shoved in his back pocket. “Call me that again and I’ll fill your car with raw fish and park it in the sun for a week where you can’t find it.”

“Calm down, Pidgeon. He’s just stressed.”

“And hungover,” Lance piped in. “Look can we get going already? I am literally missing my other half, and while I’m used to that, it’s different now.” His voice dropped towards the end as he glanced back at his reflection and the two blue eyes that stared back at him.

“Okay, get ready and we’ll head out,” Hunk said softly as he and Pidge moved out of the doorway. “Pidge has a big project to do, so it’s gonna be just you and me, buddy.”

Lance nodded and made his way towards his bedroom to get dressed. He’d have to pick out something he looked good in. He was going to find his soulmate today.

A blue baseball-tee and a pair of ripped jeans later, Lance was ready.

He had been ready his entire life, but now it was actually happening. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves.

The outfit itself was simple, but it hugged his body in all the right places, as well as complimented his eyes.

Looking at his reflection still startled him every time he saw his eyes, and even though he was dressed, he had a hard time pulling himself away from his reflection. The grey eye had always been a part of him, as was the soul tugging feeling that accompanied looking at himself in the mirror.

But looking at himself now, those feelings had vanished. He felt complete, though there was a new yearning, too, as though he had been away from someone for far too long.

Lance pushed the sadness down, now determined to find his those grey eyes. He was so close, and he wasn’t going to let them slip away.

There was a knock on the door, and Pidge poked her head in. Lance would’ve yelled about privacy or something, but he had long since stopped trying to shove the concept of modesty into her brain.

“I texted Matt and he said he would try to help if he could. He knows a lot of the guys around there, so if he hears anything he can let me know and I’ll relay the information.” She handed Lance a few asprin and a bottle of water, which he took gratefully.

“Thanks, Pidge,” he replied before quickly taking the pills and downing at least half the bottle. “That’s actually a good idea.”

“Yeah, I tend to have those from time to time,” she deadpanned.

Hunk yelled from the living room for Lance to hurry up, and Pidge gave him a smile of encouragement. “Go find your soulmate, loverboy.”

A huge smile broke out across Lance’s face and he nodded at Pidge’s words.

Once he was in the living room, Hunk waved a paper in the air. “Okay, so all together, there are about 70 Greek organizations on campus, only 40 are fraternities, and 5 are on Victory Lane,” he explained.

“Okay, thats not too bad… By chance did any of them not have a party last night?” Lance ventured, hoping to rule out at least one more.

Hunk just shook his head.

“So what are we going to do, go around and knock on doors until we find the right place?”

“Basically.”

“What if they’re not even in a fraternity?” Pidge pointed out. “A lot of people were at those parties. Lance isn’t in a frat and he was there.”

Lance groaned and leaned against the wall dramatically, realizing she was right. “I’m going to be alone forever!”

“No, you’re not, Lance, we’re going to get to the bottom of this. The fraternities are just a starting point, but we won’t stop until you’re both together again.”

Hunk was usually great at calming Lance down, but this time there was just too much at stake. He tapped his foot as he stood by the front door.

“Then what are we waiting for?”

They all decided that starting at Matt’s was the best option, since it was really the only specific lead they had.

It took them fifteen minutes to drive to Victory Lane and park at Matt’s fraternity, and the whole time Lance was silently shaking his leg, too nervous to keep up any conversation.

They got out and Lance looked up at the giant house. He froze as he got a sense of deja vu, though he had never visited Matt’s fraternity house before.

“I was definitely here last night.”

Lance heard the door to the house open, and looked over to see Matt.

“Hey, Serrano, how you feeling this morning?” he called.

Lance rolled his eyes as they walked over to meet him. “Better than I should be.”

As they drew closer, Matt squinted his eyes before smiling widely at Lance. “Hey, your eyes are blue! When did that happen?”

“That’s what we actually wanted to talk to you about…” Lance replied, rubbing the back of his head. “It happened sometime last night before I got home, but I don’t really remember a whole lot.”

Matt nodded and invited them inside, leading them to the kitchen. The house was still messy, but most of it was contained to the living room.

“I’m not surprised, honestly. You were pretty gone by the time you got here,” Matt said, leaning over the kitchen island.

“Where did you start off?” Hunk asked Lance.

“I party hopped a few houses with Rolo, but when he left with Nyma, I think I came to Victory Lane. Maybe… Lotor’s? I vaguely remember seeing him last night.” Lance struggled to recall the exact events.

“I would hope you remember seeing Lotor last night,” Allura piped in as she entered the room and stood next to Matt. “You nearly gave him a black eye before he kicked both of us out. Speaking of, what happened to your eye?”

Hunk gave Lance a look that probably should have made Lance feel ashamed, but he really only felt pride.

“So his eyes weren’t both blue when you saw him last night?” Hunk asked at the same time Lance spoke.

“Why would I punch Lotor?”

Alura sighed and rested her head on Matt’s shoulder. “I found out he was harassing my cousin and I broke up with him, then I told you and asked you to escort me to Matthew’s. From what I remember, Lance, you had only one blue eye. That is definitely something I would notice.”

“And obviously Matt was surprised when we showed up, so you had to have gotten it after you left,” Hunk concluded.

Matt nodded in agreement before adding, “I think you went a few houses down, but I’m not entirely sure to which one. I can assume you went towards the library since you can from Lotor’s and probably didn’t want to go back.”

Lance thought over everything and tried to remember more from last night but to no avail. “I guess we should go check them out, see if anything seems familiar.”

“Thanks you two,” Hunk said, waving goodbye. Lance smiled gratefully at them and followed Hunk out the front door.

They started walking down the street, away from Lotor’s fraternity house. Lance looked over the houses, trying to recognize any features. They all looked somewhat similar, save for the Greek symbols. Most of the front lawns were in disarray, and one house had someone de toilet-papering it.

Lance looked closely at the stranger before he kept walking.

Glancing across the street to a yard trashed much more than others, one of the greek letter stands had been knocked over and was lying face down in the grass.

“Wait,” he told Hunk, stopping dead in his tracks. “That’s it. That’s the house!”

He quickly looked both ways before crossing the street, Hunk close behind him.

“How can you be sure?”

“Because I did that when I got here,” he replied, motioning to the fallen letter stand. He kept going not really paying it much mind, far too excited. “Some dude with a mullet started yelling at me…” His voice trailed off as the memory faded.

Lance knocked on the door loudly as Hunk caught up with him.

After a few seconds of no response Lance knocked again, more insistent this time. He shifted his weight wondering if his soulmate would answer the door. He knew it wasn’t likely, but he could hope.

The door opened to reveal some guy holding a coffee cup and yawning, looking worse off than Lance had when he first woke up. His brown hair almost matched Lance’s, but his skin was lighter and he wore glasses. The guy studied Lance for a moment.

Lance tried not to feel disappointed at the brown eyes that looked back at him, but it was hard not to.

The guy’s eyes widened and he gaped at Lance.

“Oh, it’s you.”

Lance paled at the short sentence. “You remember me?”

The stranger let out a snort. “How could I not? After last night… yeah, I remember you. Come on in.”

Hunk gave Lance a look, and he just shrugged his shoulders in response before moving into the house.

It wasn’t as bad as the outside, and Lance wondered how they contained the mess. They moved into the living room, which looked clean save for a few empty red solo cups on the end tables. The guy sat on the couch, and Hunk followed his lead.

Lance stayed standing, too nervous to sit. What if his soulmate came back? He’d have to stand and it would probably get awkward. Then what would he do?

“I’m Adam, by the way. Just let me text Shiro that you’re here. He went out with Keith about an hour ago.”

“Shiro…” He muttered. The name sounded foreign on his tongue, but still nice.

He felt himself glancing down the hall towards the front door, his leg starting to shake.

“So you remember Lance from last night,” Hunk started. “What exactly happened?”

“Well he knocked over the-” Adam started.

Lance could feel his anxiety spike. He wasn’t sure when Shiro was going to be back. What if Shiro didn’t like him? Lance had never considered what might actually happen when he met his other half, though he always knew they were out there. Now they- he- Shiro was so close.

“Do you mind if I…” he trailed off and motioned around, not being able to find the words. The two looked up at him from the couch and he realized he was probably interrupting.

“Yeah, sure. You probably remember your way around from last night,” Adam shrugged. He turned back to Hunk and continued their conversation.

Lance shuffled as he looked around. He started off back down the hall before turning up the stairs. He wasn’t sure where he was going but the path felt familiar to his feet, so he let them lead.

The first door on the right was cracked open and Lance gently pushed it the rest of the way. He felt his body pull him forward as he crossed the threshold, though knew he shouldn’t be snooping. He didn’t even know who’s room this was!

But as he took in the purple lighting and the galaxy tapestry hanging behind the bed, it all came back to him. He knew exactly who’s room this was. He smiled at the floor as his hand came to the side of his neck, lightly covering the hickies.

It was Shiro’s room.

Memories flashed in his mind of the previous night and he ventured over to the dresser, where a picture of Shiro at the zoo with lions in the background was propped against a rocket model.

Lance laughed as he remembered Shiro trying to tell him about the rocket, but they were both too far gone.

From downstairs, Lance heard the front door open and shut, and he froze. It was silent for a second and he turned around slowly, trying to gather the courage to move forward.

Before he could take a step, he heard heavy footsteps on the stairs. His breath caught in his throat and he knew there were only moments left.

A figure appeared in the doorway, hunched over and slightly out of breath, but as they looked up at Lance, he saw two onyx eyes staring back at him, perfectly matching the grey he had stared at since he turned 16.

“Shiro…” he breathed.

He wasn’t sure who had moved first, but Shiro’s arms wrapped around him and Lance’s palms came to rest on the other’s chest as their lips connected.

A wave of relief flooded through Lance. Any feeling of longing or loneliness vanished as he kissed Shiro back. Warmth filled his chest and he reached up to tangle his fingers in the dark black hair, holding Shiro close. He never wanted this to end, never wanted to let Shiro go again.

All too soon they parted and Lance couldn’t help the soft whine, nor the pout that settled on his lips.

Shiro laughed softly and rested his forehead against Lance’s. A small smile replaced the pout as the laugh stirred the butterflies that had been dormant in Lance’s stomach.

Dark grey eyes connected with blue and Lance felt everything fall into place.

“I found you, mi alma.”

Lance swears Shiro can hear his heart about to beat right out of his chest, though he doesn’t say anything about it.

“Last night,” Shiro recalled. “You called me mi alma then, too. What does it mean?”

A small chuckle filled the air as Lance remembered his mom’s explanation. “It’s Spanish for ’my soul’.”

“I forgot you could speak Spanish,” Shiro admitted, and Lance swore he saw a light blush on his cheeks. He made a mental note to bring that back up later. “Speaking of forgetting…” he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Lance,” he said, introducing himself, probably for the second time. “It’s okay, I think we were both kinda drunk last night…”

“That’s an understatement,” Shiro admitted. “But we’re not now.”

Lance smiled up at him before he tucked himself in the crook of Shiro’s neck, feeling himself get embarrassed and a bit emotional. He ignored the tears that started to form at the edge of his eyes.

Shiro didn’t mind, choosing to hold Lance tightly against him instead. “So, can I take you out on a date?” he whispered in the other’s ear playfully.

Lance choked out a laugh before he started to cry.

“Lance?” Shiro asked, slightly panicking and pulling away. “Hey, did I do something wrong? Are you okay?”

Lance just kept his head down and shook it ‘no’. It was hard to catch his breath and get his feelings under control in order to respond to Shiro.

“I’m right here. Tell me what's wrong and I’ll fix it, you just gotta tell me.”

He laughed through his tears and finally looked up at Shiro, his cheeks wet. “You’re here. Right in front of me. How crazy is that?” Shiro opened his mouth to respond before Lance continued. “I’ve always stared in the mirror, wondering what you would be like, and now you’re here! Right in front of me!”

Lance felt like a mess. He was ugly crying and rambling, all in front of his soulmate.

But if Shiro saw a mess, he didn’t show it. He cupped Lance’s cheek and used his thumb to wipe away the tears that had fallen. “Here I am,” he confirmed, keeping his voice in a soothing tone.

Shiro moved Lance’s chin up, meeting him for another kiss. Lance melted into it, his hands fisting the fabric on the front of Shiro’s shirt. He didn’t think he would ever get tired of being close to Shiro.

He pushed up on his toes, deepening the kiss, feeling like he couldn’t possibly get close enough. Strong hands on his hips pushed him back down, but really only made him want to keep going.

“Calm down, Lance,” Shiro reprimanded with a wink. “We’ve got time.”

Lance nodded, then remembered something. “I have to tell Mama and Marco…” He looked up at Shiro, eyes wide. “Mama is going to lose her shit.”

**Author's Note:**

> The prequel Ocean will be posted on Ao3 on 9/25, but you can read it before then on my Instagram!
> 
> Tú otra mitad is out there. Tú alma.  
> Your other half is out there. Your soul.


End file.
